6 arrested for ‘vulgar’ dance in Iran

May 21: Six young Iranians have been arrested and forced to apologise after posting a home-made version of US singer Pharrell Williams’s hit song Happy on the Internet.

The clip shows three men and three unveiled women singing and dancing to the tune in the streets and on rooftops in Tehran.

The Islamic Republic took exception to the video, which was posted on Youtube and received nearly a quarter of a million views, accusing the group of producing a “vulgar clip which hurt public chastity”.

Hossein Sajedinia, Tehran’s police chief, said: “Following a series of intelligence and police operations and after coordinating with the judiciary, all the suspects were identified and arrested.

“After a vulgar clip which hurt public chastity was released in cyberspace, police decided to identify those involved in making that clip.”

One of the women who took part in the video, entitled Happy: We are From Tehran, said the girls had covered their hair with wigs in an attempt to conform to the codes.

Under Islamic law, in force in Iran since the 1979 revolution, women must cover themselves from head to toe.